Sections

After an introduction to Vincent Holt’s ‘Why Not Eat Insects?‘, I thought I would share some recipes from the book. Before I do, I hope you enjoy a quotation about the delights of eating insects from the author:

Does not the sweet scent of our cooked bodies tempt you? Fry us with butter, we are delicious. Boil us, grill us, stew us; we are good all ways!

I have adapted these recipes slightly to make them into instructional lists with steps. In the book they are interdispersed and written in continous prose.

Whilst the book touches on the subject, as with any wild food, you should consider the source so the food is free from unwanted contaminants. Collecting along a busy road, a path frequented by many dogs, or a sewage outlet is unwise. I am not recommending that anyone tries these recipes, although after trying them I shall report back. The woodlouse sauce is the one I will probably try first.

Fried Grasshoppers
Catch some large grasshoppers of an abundant species (Chorthippus brunneus would probably be good)
Remove the heads, legs and wings
Sprinkle the bodies with salt, peper and chopped parsley
Fry in butter then sprinkle with vinegar

Dressed Snails*
Boil the snails for 15 minutes
Remove the boiled snails from their shells then clean them thoroughly
Boil the cleaned, shelless snails for a further 15 minutes
Rinse and dry the snails, then fry gently in butter until golden brown

Woodlouse Sauce
Collect a quantity of the finest wood-lice to be found
Place the woodlice in boiling water
In a separate pan, melt ~100g (1/4 lb) of butter
To the melted butter, add: a teaspoon (6mL) of flour, small glass of water, a little milk and some salt and pepper
Cook the butter-based sauce until thick, the add the boiled woodlice

This sauce is supposed to go well with fish…

* Note: The author recommends keeping a simple snail enclosure, allowing you to control the vegetation they eat and preventing them from eating unsavoury plants, or plants poisonous to humans.

Reference:
Holt, V.M. (2007) WHY NOT EAT INSECTS? Whitstable, Pryor Publications Whitstable and Walsall.
Note: The original was book was published in 1885. The version I have is a fascimile.

The desert locust, Schistocerca gregaria (Orthoptera: Acrididae), is one of the most important crop pests in the world. It usually lives in relative solitude but under certain conditions it starts to swarm, causing significant loss of vegetation and crops.

Locust nymph eating lettuce

The swarming response results in a number of changes in the locust: alteration of the normal camouflage to more striking colouration and the change in behaviour that causes them to gather together into a swarm (called a band if they are nymphs).

Scientists knew about the physical stimuli which causes swarming but were uncertain about the underlying biochemical changes. The physical stimulus was experimentally demonstrated using a small paintbrush to ‘tickle’ the locusts and found that the hind femora was the most effective site for inducing swarming (Simpson et al, 2001).

The hind femora caused the highest percentage, 76% to 100% (shown in red), of S. gregaria to exhibit swarming behaviour (adapted from Simpson et al, 2001). © Malin Nikunlassi

Recently scientists discovered the major component of the signalling pathway which results in swarming: the neurochemical serotonin (Anstey et al, 2009), a neurotransmitter found in many organisms, from insects to humans.

Serotonin - based on the amino acid tryptophan with an additional hydroxyl group (OH) marked in red. © Malin Nikunlassi

Knowledge about the role that serotonin plays may provide new novel ways of controlling the locusts without resorting to mass spraying of pesticides.

For additional reading on locusts and grasshoppers as pest species, visit the International Society for Pest Information which has a number of freely available full text resources.

References:

Simpson S.J., Despland E., Hägele B.F. and Dodgson T. (2001) Gregarious behavior in desert locusts is evoked by touching their back legs. PNAS 98: 3895-3897

Anstey M.L., Rogers S.M., Ott S.R., Burrows M. and Simpson S.J. (2009) Serotonin Mediates Gregarization Underlying Swarm Formation in Desert Locusts. Science 323: 627-630

The annual Orthopterists’ Meeting took place last week on Wednesday 19th November at The Natural History Museum. Whilst I was unable to arrive early enough for all the talks I managed to catch Peter Sutton’s lecture on ‘British Orthoptera, the current state of affairs’ which I shall discuss in a later post. His lecture was followed by the launch of the Orthoptera Recording Scheme website which will provide information on the Orthopteroids of the British Isles and enable the submission of sightings.

Anyone can submit sightings along with a photo to allow verification of the sighting identification. Once the record(s) has been verified they will be added to the National Biodiversity Network and the appropriate distribution map.

It will be interesting to follow the progress of the site and hopefully see more entomological recording sites in the future.